Annotate a photo
Open a photo, mark the exact spot that should change, and leave a note for the whole photo — the editor sees your marks on the photo itself.
When a change applies to one spot in one photo, a mark beats a paragraph of instructions. You draw a rectangle or circle over the area, write what should happen there, and the editor sees the mark and your words on the photo itself.
Before you start
Upload the photos first — see Upload photos. Marks work on every file type, RAW included: if your browser cannot show a file, the viewer says “This file type can’t be shown in the browser. Notes and marked areas still work and use the original file’s pixels.”
Open the photo viewer
In the workspace, click any photo card (or a file name in Table view). The photo viewer fills the screen:
- Top bar: the file name with its pixel size and file size, the save status in the middle, ‹ 3 of 4 › to page through the photos, Clear, a light / dark switch, and Done.
- Left: the tools — Rectangle, Circle, Arrow — and zoom.
- Middle: the photo.
- Right, Photo details: Note for this photo and the list of Marked areas.
- Bottom: a strip of all photos in the order, split by section, for example Photos to edit · 4 │ Reference images · 1.
Mark an area
Start from the sample box, or draw your own
When a photo has no marks yet, a sample rectangle is already placed in the middle and selected, so you can see how it works. Drag it over the spot you mean, or pick Rectangle or Circle on the left and drag on the photo. A sample box you never touch disappears on its own.
Write in the bar under the mark
A bar opens right under the mark: ✕ · “What should we do here?” · ✓. Type what should change there — at least 3 characters, up to 300. This bar is the only place where a mark’s text is written.
Save it
Press Enter or click ✓. (Shift+Enter starts a new line.) If you stop typing for a moment, it also saves on its own once it has 3 characters. The bar folds into a small numbered label, and the mark appears in Marked areas on the right.
Add a note for the whole photo (optional)
For changes that are not about one spot, use Note for this photo on the right: “Add a note about the whole photo… e.g. “Keep this background””. Up to 1,000 characters, saved as you type.
Click Done
Everything is already saved. Done closes the viewer, and the photo’s card shows how many notes it has — marks plus the whole-photo note.
The Marked areas list
The list on the right is for finding and removing marks, not for writing:
- Click a row to jump to that mark on the photo; its bar opens so you can edit the text there.
- Click the bin on a row to delete that mark.
- A mark that has not been saved yet says so: Not saved yet — write at least 3 characters on the photo, or Not saved yet — press Enter or ✓ on the photo to save. Unsaved marks are kept when you switch photos or close the viewer.
- With no marks: “Nothing marked yet. Pick the rectangle or circle on the left and drag on the photo to point at what should change.”
Numbers, colours and arrows
- Rectangles and circles are numbered 1, 2, 3… in the order you draw them. Each number has its own colour, used for the mark, its label and its row in the list. If you delete mark 1, the others move up a number and take that number’s colour.
- Arrows are just pointers: they have no number and no text. Use one to show a direction, next to a mark that says what to do. An arrow can be deleted on its own.
- Before drawing a new mark, finish the one you are on. Otherwise you see “Finish marked area 1 first: write what we should do there, or delete it.”
Change or remove marks
- Move or resize: drag a mark, or drag its corners. The change saves immediately.
- Delete one: select it and click ✕ at the start of its bar, or use the bin in the list.
- Delete all on this photo: click Clear in the top bar and confirm Clear all marked areas on this photo? The note for the whole photo stays. This can’t be undone.
Move between photos
Use ‹ › in the top bar, the arrow keys, or click a photo in the strip at the bottom. Photos with notes have a small dot in the strip, and each shows the last four digits of its ID — the same number you can use to refer to it with # in your notes. Photos follow the order of the workspace, so change that order in Organize photos if it matters. The viewer remembers on this device whether you prefer the light or dark background and the larger or smaller strip.
On a phone
There is no right-hand column. The note for the whole photo sits under the photo (Add a note for this photo), and when you select a mark the same place turns into its text bar.
Rules and limits
- Marked area: 3 to 300 characters (a counter appears from 250).
- Note for this photo: up to 1,000 characters. The same note appears in the Note column of Table view.
- In marks and photo notes you can refer to another photo by typing
#— see Write editing instructions. - A saved mark counts as instructions for Continue to review; a note for the whole photo on its own does not.
What happens next
The editor sees your marks on the photo while working. After you pay, your marks stay with the order and you can look at them on the order page. To ask for changes on photos that have already been edited, see Request a revision.